Baseball: Wine against former coach

By Michael Moon / Correspondent

Published: Friday, March 14, 2014 at 07:47 PM.

Now, the pair square off every year against one another as opposing coaches. So far, Wine has gotten the best of his mentor this year. Three games through a five-game series in Kinston, Wine’s Lancers finished 4-1.

“If there’s anybody out there I wouldn’t mind losing to, it would be him,” Wine said, before adding a qualifier. “As long as it’s early in the year.”

Followers of college baseball would be hard-pressed to find a pair of coaches with more respect for one another than LCC coach Stony Wine and Allegany College of Maryland skipper Steve Bazarnic.

For Wine and Bazarnic, though, the relationship goes well beyond the friendly confines of a ball park.

“I’m proud of that guy,” Bazarnic said of his former player. “He’s like my son.”

That’s high praise, especially coming from an NJCAA Hall of Fame coach who, according to baseball-reference.com, has won more than 1,300 games as head coach of Allegany College since 1971 and has gone to nine NJCAA World Series. Among the former Major Leaguers to benefit from Bazarnic’s tutelage are John Kruk, Steve Kline and Stan Belinda.

Countless other players have come and gone, of course, but Bazarnic said he remembers the first day Wine stepped onto campus in the fall of 1989.

“You don’t remember everyone, but I remember him,” Bazarnic said. “He was a little nervous, but Stony was a great leader, a great hitter and a great first baseman.”

Wine played two seasons at Allegany in 1990 and 1991 and reached the World Series in both, including a third place finish in ’91. Wine earned a spot on the All-World Series team with his play that year.

Then, like now, the relationship was about more than just baseball.

“If I didn’t go to school there, I wouldn’t have gotten my life in order,” Wine said. “He’s like my dad.”

Wine earned his degree from Allegany and moved on to Barton College in Wilson. Though he was an NCAA Division II All American in 1992, an injury cut short his playing career in his senior year. Wine graduated with a physical education degree and decided to continue his life in baseball, this time as a coach.

He began as an assistant coach at Barton shortly after graduating, took a break to pursue his master’s degree at East Carolina. He then bounced around as an assistant coach and head coach in the Coastal Plain summer league for several years before taking a head coaching gig at Southeastern Community College in Whiteville in 2003.

He started at LCC in 2005. Since becoming a head coach, Wine’s career has been marked by one award after the next. He was named NJCAA Division II Region X Coach of the Year every year in a four-year stretch from 2005-2008. He was NCJCAA World Series Coach of the Tournament and Mid-Atlantic Coach of the Year in 2008. In 2010, he was named Diamond Sports ABCA Regional Coach of the Year for NJCAA Division II, NCJAA Southeastern Region Coach of the Year and a Walter Rabb Award recipient.

Wine was also inducted into the Barton College Athletic Hall of Fame in October.

Through it all, he has stayed in touch with Bazarnic.

“He’ll call me up out of the blue and ask me how I’m doing,” Wine said.

Wine’s success comes as no surprise to Bazarnic.

“He’s got that fire,” Bazarnic said. “He loves the game. I’ll call him up during the summer, and he’s on a tractor, out on the field. He loves the game, and he does an outstanding job.”

Both serve as athletic directors for their respective schools, and in addition to scheduling yearly baseball series, they also work to find games for their basketball teams.

“You can’t come across in all of baseball – college or professional – a nicer man,” Wine said of Bazarnic. “He will get the most out of you. And it goes deeper than baseball. He is hard-nosed but respectful of everybody.”

Wine said he has modeled much of his own coaching philosophy after his time spent with Bazarnic.

“He made me grow up by being around baseball,” Wine said, before ticking off some of the virtues that makes his mentor an effective coach. “His motivation, his fight, the way he battles, whatever you want to call it. Plus his experience, who he’s had a chance to work with.”

Now, the pair square off every year against one another as opposing coaches. So far, Wine has gotten the best of his mentor this year. Three games through a five-game series in Kinston, Wine’s Lancers finished 4-1.

“If there’s anybody out there I wouldn’t mind losing to, it would be him,” Wine said, before adding a qualifier. “As long as it’s early in the year.”